Campaign Ad Watch | 'Already Has,' Romney for President and the Republican National Committee

Wednesday

Oct 3, 2012 at 12:01 AMOct 3, 2012 at 12:24 PM

Ad: "Already Has," a 30-second commercial

Ad: “Already Has,” a 30-second commercial

Producer: Romney for President and the Republican National Committee

Where to see it: On television or here.

Video: Ad opens with the following text on the screen — “WHO WILL RAISE TAXES ON THE MIDDLE CLASS?” Following are multiple shots of President Barack Obama smiling with his arm around California U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who is a Democrat, shots of an empty hospital gurney, middle-class folks fretting, a large shot of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney with Ohio U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, and a shot of Romney delivering a speech with two women standing behind him.

Script: Female voiceover — “Who will raise taxes on the middle class? Barack Obama and the liberals already have. To pay for government-run health care, you’ll pay higher taxes and more for your medicine. And their plan includes a trillion dollars in higher taxes. Even on the middle class. Mitt Romney and common-sense conservatives will cut taxes on the middle class. And they’ll close loopholes for millionaires. Obama and his liberal allies? We can’t afford four more years.”

Romney — “I’m Mitt Romney, and I approved this message.”

Analysis: Beginning in 2014, the penalty individuals who do not have health insurance will pay is a tax, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts ruled in June.

So for those who have neither purchased health insurance nor are covered by their employers, the “tax” they’ll be mandated to pay as part of the individual mandate of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act will be worth at least $695 per year. And statistics show most people who currently don’t have insurance are those outside of the higher income brackets.

Even without Roberts’ ruling — a ruling which, it’s worth noting, allowed the Affordable Care Act to remain on the books — Obama’s law had some taxes woven in. There’s a tax on medical-device manufacturers, a limit on the amount of contributions to flexible spending accounts for medical expenses (considered a tax), and a tax on more-expensive health plans.

So Romney and the RNC are within reason to draw the connection between what they call Obamacare and higher taxes for several groups — and not just those who don’t meet the mandate. But the rest of the ad is a little squishy.

Romney supports extending Bush-era tax cuts for all brackets and lowering tax rates. He’s said he would offset the cost, in part, by closing tax loopholes, though he hasn’t specified which ones. He’s had difficulty showing how his plan to extend the Bush tax cuts and lower tax rates without adding to the federal debt would not affect some of the tax deductions near and dear to middle-class families’ hearts.

The timing and title of Romney’s ad is also curious. A week ago yesterday, Romney said this during a campaign stop at the Dayton airport: “I admit this: [Obama’s] got one new idea that he did not do in his first four years that he says he’s going to do in the next four years — which is he's going to raise taxes.”

Romney’s campaign has said that’s not what the candidate meant. But it is what he said.